The Devil's Due - Jenna Black

...spoilers in this review for the two books before the Devil's Due but no spoilers for this book.

-Background and Plot-
The Devil's Due is the third book in Jenna Black's urban fantasy series about Morgan Kingsley an exorcist who is possessed by the King of the Demons.

Morgan Kingsley is not like other demon hosts or even like other humans. Morgan's biological father was someone who had been created as part of ...
...for the demons who created him the experiment with him was unsuccessful and even more unfortunately for them Morgan was born. Morgan cannot be possessed like other humans because she is able to remain in control of her body while being possessed. This has made her the perfect host for Lugh, the demon king who is forced to hide out on the human plane so that his brother can't kill him, take the crown and enslave humans.

The Devil's ... more

-Spoiler Warning!-
There are spoilers in this review for the two books before the Devil's Due but no spoilers for this book.

-Background and Plot-
The Devil's Due is the third book in Jenna Black's urban fantasy series about Morgan Kingsley an exorcist who is possessed by the King of the Demons.

Morgan Kingsley is not like other demon hosts or even like other humans. Morgan's biological father was someone who had been created as part of a series of experiments to breed the perfect host. Unfortunately for the demons who created him the experiment with him was unsuccessful and even more unfortunately for them Morgan was born. Morgan cannot be possessed like other humans because she is able to remain in control of her body while being possessed. This has made her the perfect host for Lugh, the demon king who is forced to hide out on the human plane so that his brother can't kill him, take the crown and enslave humans.

The Devil's Due finds Morgan at a low point in her life. Her home was burnt down in one of the previous books and her insurance company are being slow to pay up. She's having relationship problems. Her best friend betrayed her and is now dead. Her brother has been repossessed by a demon that neither of them can stand. Plus she has been possessed against her will and struggles between intense attraction to Lugh and anger and frustration at him.

When Morgan is approached by a rich and powerful woman who is convinced that her son has been possessed illegally, even though all of the paper work seems legitimate, Morgan is happy for the distraction. However, the deeper she digs into the case the more obvious it becomes there's something different about this one and everything is far from what it seems.

-Opinion-
This was another great addition to the Morgan Kingsley series but certainly not a stand alone book. If you haven't read the first two books you will almost certainly be lost reading this one. I would recommend starting with the Devil Inside.

So what was so good about this book?

First of all I love Morgan. She is strong, she's feisty and she's stubborn and that is exactly what I like in heroines. I feel that she's the kind of woman that I aspire to be, someone who is confident and independent and can totally hold her own against everyone. Yet at the same time she's just so easy to relate to. She has her moments of weakness and her insecurities which makes her seem more human and she doesn't at any times come across as being too perfect. I think that Black has struck a good balance with her personality traits.

I also like all of the other characters in the book, with the possible exception of Brian who I just find a little bit annoying. It's not that he's a bad character or that he's poorly written but that I don't think he's strong enough to be Morgan's boyfriend. Perhaps if he had a different role I would like him more but throughout this book and the previous books I just keep thinking that Morgan should be rid of him. You can clearly see in the books how much she loves and cares for him and that he in turn loves and cares for her but there seems to be too much of a power difference between them.
I have to say though that it did get better in this book. Brian seems to be toughening up a bit and giving Morgan as good as she gets and if he continues to go in the way that he's going then I will probably end up liking him a lot more.

Strangely enough I found myself really liking Raphael in this book. Raphael is Lugh's brother who is on their side but isn't exactly noble and good. What I like about him is that he has an edge and unlike Lugh and the other demons in this book he's not trying to do the right thing for everyone, he's quite selfish. Those aren't exactly likeable qualities so I'm really not sure why it is that I like him, I guess he's just refreshing when you compare him to the other characters who while far from perfect all have their hearts in the right place.

Another positive thing with this book is that it deals with the consequences of things that have happened in previous books, even the less significant things like the fact that Morgan's home burnt down and the insurance company are being slow. I think it's the small things like this (small compared to trying to save the world from the bad demons) that add realism to this book and help to draw the reader in. The world is completely fantastical, the plot is of course like nothing that ever happens in our life but then there are these little things thrown in that you can really relate to that just help to draw you into the story.
Plus it would just annoy me if Black ignored everything that's happened in the previous books.

The plot itself is pretty good and ties in nicely with the overall plot of the series. There were a lot of surprising twists and turns in this book that keep you guessing about what's going to happen. I love boks where I can't guess the ending, where things come as a surprise and this book does that perfectly.

I also felt that there was a good balance between the action and the emotional impact. There is enough action to keep things moving along and to keep the reader interested but also enough focus on the emotional side of things to make the reader empathise with Morgan and to add some depth to the book.

This book has really left me wanting to read the next one. It didn't exactly end on a cliff hanger but rather with certain expectations about what is going to happen next. I'm very excited about the next book (can't say why without giving away spoilers) and can't wait for it to be released.  

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